It was a cold Sunday morning at Stern Grove, August 30, 1952. Heavy dew dripped from the eucalyptus trees as musicians from the San Francisco Symphony shivered in their seats on the outdoor stage. It was so cold, in fact, that there was talk of moving the rehearsal for the afternoon’s concert to some indoor place – Merola, who was to conduct, was not in good health. But the gaunt maestro said no, don’t fuss, we will carry on in the usual manner.
And they did. That was the afternoon Gaetano Merola died.
He conducted the first half of the “pop” program. Then after intermission, he was accompanying Brunetta Mazzolini, a Portland soprano, in “Un bel di” from Butterfly. She sang the beginning of a sentence: “Io, senza dar risposta me ne staro nascosta un po’ per celia, e un po[ pe non. . . .
(“I, withoug answering, will stay hidden partly for fun, and partly so as no . . .) At this point there is a downbeat, on the second syllable of “morire al primo incontro” (“to die at the first meeting”) Merolas baton was upheld, and in a moment the downbeat should have come. Bit it never came. His baton remained upheld, and a strange, dazed look came into his face. It seemed as if he might spring into the air. Suddenly he fell forward, and onto the stage floor. There was dead silence. Orchestra and audience arose, standing motionless. A doctor in the audience rushed on stage, but there was no commotion. Everyone knew what had happened.
Merola died conducting the music of one of his favorite composers, leading the musicians he had known so well. As a kind fate would have it, Merola died honoring an old Italian superstition that decrees that a man should not die with his feet on the ground. Falling from the conductor’s stand he turned around and landed with his feet up on the podium. |
